Armed with an updated (presumably) revenue-share agreement with Warner Bros., Blockbuster is squaring off against Netflix and Redbox.

The ailing chain is touting today’s availability of “The Blind Side” at Blockbuster stores, by mail or on demand. Netflix and Redbox, which recently agreed to a 28-day rental window in exchange for improved terms, does not yet have access to the movie, which notched an Oscar win for Sandra Bullock earlier this month.

The question: How much will this new window help the chain, and rental stores in general, compete against popular Netflix and Redbox? Blockbuster is making a big deal out of the fact that it’s the only “multi-channel provider” with access to big movies on street date. But is it really that great a selling point with consumers?

Studios would prefer consumers buy their movies on disc or via download. Barring that, they would prefer consumer rent movies on demand or at a Blockbuster; the economics are better that way. (Netflix operates on a subscription-based model; Redbox’s bargain pricing is considered a threat to sales, VOD and revenue-sharing rental chains like Blockbuster.)

As for digital: The release carefully notes that existing deals remain in place. The updated deal only applies to DVD and Blu-ray.

So no, bloggers, the studios aren’t really giving Blockbuster scandalously preferential treatment. They’re just agreeing to continue supplying the ailing chain with discs at a time its future looks shaky.

UPDATE: LATimes reports that the new revenue-sharing arrangement improved terms for both parties.

At the time, his comments seemed incredibly self-serving: Warner Bros. was already trying to impose a window on Netflix and other subscription-based rental services. If stores renting movies on a disc by disc basis followed suit, Netflix wouldn’t be operating under a competitive disadvantage.

So Hastings talked about the advantages of such a scheme. “If we can agree on low-enough pricing,” the LAT quoted Hastings saying, “delayed rental could potentially increase profits for everyone.”

And maybe Hastings could get more access to movies for streaming purposes, which is what HE really wanted. Under the vagaries of studio window policies, Netflix has access to movies for a limited period.

Sure enough, that’s what happened. Netflix, Ben Fritz reported in the LAT, got a price break, and more content for its streaming service. Don’t be surprised if other studios broker similar deals with Netflix, and potentially Redbox as well.

The question remains, however, whether ailing chains like Blockbuster will take a similar deal. Even if they did, however, I would expect indies to try and find ways to subvert any DVD sales window studios attempt to impose on rentailers industrywide.

Apparently studios are considering a sales-only window for DVD releases as a way to combat sliding sales and fight back against cheap Redbox rentals.

There are many reasons why this is a bad idea.

1. Rental stores will be able to buy discs and rent them, just like they did in the early days of home video. According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who disclosed the plan during yesterday’s earnings call, retailers might be willing to wait if studios price rental discs cheap enough.

2. But consumers eager to watch the movies will just do so other ways — through pirated versions or VOD. How much will it increase or protect sales? Hard to say.

3. They risk pissing off consumers who are used to renting the movies right away. Pissed off consumers might then feel justified viewing contraband.

4. They can’t stop retailers from renting movies under the sales window due to a little thing called the First Sale Doctrine.

Hastings interest in this scheme should not be overlooked. At least one studio — that would be Warners — is trying to impose a later rental window on Netflix, arguing that its subscription based business should not be considered the same as video stores than rent on a disc by disc basis. Also not to be forgotten: Hastings really wants to focus on streaming movies; that’s been his goal since he founded the company. The technology wasn’t there yet then.

Been meaning to weigh on the book price war, but was caught up in a few assignments and didn’t get to it.

Here’s the thing: Price wars are not new. Chains use popular books and videos as loss leaders for bigger purchases.

Independent stores and content providers don’t like it. But does it destroy the fabric of our nation? In its request for a Dept. of Justice investigation, the American Booksellers Assn. predicted just that. Consider:

We would find these practices questionable were they taking place in the market for widgets. That they are taking place in the market for books is catastrophic. If left unchecked, these predatory pricing policies will devastate not only the book industry, but our collective ability to maintain a society where the widest range of ideas are always made available to the public, and will allow the few remaining mega booksellers to raise prices to consumers unchecked.

Last year, holiday disc sales fell short, as the careening economy took its toll on gift giving. DVD sales are still down, although it’s unclear how bad the situation is.

All this sets the stage for the most important time of the year for homevideo: The big summer hits are about to roll out on disc. “Transformers 2” comes out Oct. 20, for example, followed by “Ice Age 3” the next week, “Up” Nov. 10, “Star Trek” Nov. 17 and so on. Will they all sell? Or will consumers opt to rent instead? Rental’s making a big resurgence, thanks to the recession and cheap Redbox kiosks.

Wal-Mart apparently has some doubt: The chain reportedly cut back on shelf space for DVD. And, as the WSJ notes, the chain accounts for a third of DVD retail sales in the U.S.

To hedge their bets, more studios have decided to follow Warners lead and release pics simultaneously on DVD and VOD. Sony and Universal collapsed the VOD windows for “Angels & Demons,” “The Ugly Truth,” “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” “Julie & Julia” and “Bruno.” Warners will do it on “Orphan,” “Four Christmases” and “Terminator: Salvation.”

If people are going to rent rather than buy, studios vastly prefer they view movies on VOD. It’s simple economics: Studios get a bigger cut of each VOD transaction than they do with disc rentals. The shorter the VOD window, the more enticing a rental prospect that delivery platform becomes.

The WSJ is reporting, and paidContent confirms, that several studios are in talks with YouTube to stream movie rentals — aka Internet VOD — via the video sharing giant. This is interesting on a number of levels:

1. For starters, it’s a reminder how much studios prefer VOD to traditional disc rentals. The reason is simple: they get a cut from each transaction. According to the WSJ, studios would likely get a guaranteed minimum fee of just under $3 per title viewed. (The transaction fee is expected to mirror Apple’s iTunes rental fee of $3.99 on latest hits.)

2. It’s another way for studios to compete against Redbox. It’s killing studios that Redbox is making a bundle on $1 rental transactions while DVD sales slump. Consumers are clearly eager to rent, not always buy, movies. YouTube would join services such as Apple’s iTunes and Amazon.

3. The movies themselves would be available according to VOD windows, which vary by studio and sometimes by popularity of title. Warners, for example, is wont to collapse that window to boost VOD. The studio has been a strong proponent of VOD for some time; for a long time it had a vested interest in Time Warner cable; that division was spun off earlier this year.

Sheesh, it’s getting hard to keep up with all the Redbox developments lately. Home Media now reports that Redbox has signed a short term rev-share deal with Paramount. Remember that the various studio lawsuits grew out of their inability to come to terms with Redbox over rev-share.

Ben Fritz has even more details at the LAT’s Company Town blog; he notes that at the end of the year, Par can trigger a 5-year deal estimated at $575 million. Read the stories in LAT and Home Media

More good news/bad news depending which side of the Redbox fence you’re sitting on: Research outfit NPD Group projects that rental kiosks will command 30% of the market next year, a 58% increase over its share as of midyear 2009. As of midyear, kiosk commanded 19% market share compared to 45% for trad videostores including Blockbuster and 36% for subscription services such as Netflix.

Where will this projected gain come from? NPD doesn’t say but trad videostores would seem most vulnerable. “Consumers are obviously responding positively to the perceived value of $1 per day rentals, and they appreciate the convenience offered by video rental kiosks,” analyst Russ Crupnick noted.

Wrote a few words about the growing studio battle against Redbox for Thompson on Hollywood, riffing on the notion that Redbox is a disruptive innovation. Who’d a thunk that DVD rental kiosks would become so popular? Not me. (Or, for that matter, Mark Cuban.) Read my post

When the consortium bought MGM from Kirk Kerkorian five years ago for major bucks, they argued the Lion was worth every penny due to its enviable library. Never mind that MGM’s previous owners had mined it over and over again on DVD. Harry Sloan, ousted this week, maintained the library qualified MGM as a major studio in Variety coverage. Never mind that the studio hadn’t released much for years. Several years later, that hasn’t changed, although Mary Parent, one of the troika that will run the studio now that Sloan’s been forced to the sidelines, has been doing her darnedest to get a slate into motion. “I believe we’re going to get through this,” she told the LAT.

The same day, Sony finally lowered the price of the PlayStation 3 console in hopes of goosing sales of that platform and maybe even Blu-ray discs. From the beginning, Sony and other Blu-ray backers have talked up the console as a game changer for home entertainment, and some in the media credulously passed along that projection. You know what? Hasn’t happened. Just as PlayStation 2 didn’t really boost DVD sales, PlayStation 3 hasn’t really goosed Blu-ray sales. Hope springs eternal, however. “Many in Hollywood have been eagerly awaiting a PS3 price cut in hopes it would boost sales of high definition Blu-ray discs at a time when the overall DVD market is contracting,” the LAT reported in a story that adjoined the MGM reorg jump in the print version. A Sony exec suggested that the price cut would be enough to entice recession battered consumers off the fence.

I wouldn’t count on it boosting Blu-ray sales. Consumers have found a better way to vote with their pocketbooks in this recession — $1 DVD rentals at Redbox kiosks. Hard to argue with that consumer logic.

As for MGM? Per LAT’s Claudia Eller, most industry watchers don’t expect it to last much longer as an independent studio.